Through her simple yet poignant words, a child speaks to the world...
Verasha (a homeschooler in Singapore):
'I wrote this poem thinking about the pollution of our environment....We should take care of this planet, because it's the only one we got!'
The mood of the sky depends on you,
Whether you care and love it too,
Purple, red, blue and grey;
Are the colours of the sky.
And I just can't say
Why there's no more red,
And why there's no more blue
Who knows it might lose its colour really soon.
It now looks sad and hurt
Just because
All Sam, Dick and toothless Curt,
Have dirtied the world so clean.
So go green
And it may help
Our world to become bright and clean.
Message from Uncle Joe to Verasha and all homeschool children:
I understand your feelings, Verasha. Sometimes, I feel like that too. You know, I was at
Pulau Ubin yesterday with friends from Intel corporation. There were 48 of us and we spent some quality time cleaning up the beaches at Chek Jawa and Sungei Jelutong. We were an assorted bunch of nationalities actually - from Japan, India, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, United States, New Zealand, etc. (Photo below)
[More photos at Intel Involved's flicker.com album]Though the sky opened up for a while and the rain unleashed itself upon us with thunderous abandonment, we were wet yet undampened in spirit. We were quite glad to do our bit - no matter how small it seemed - to clean up the polluting mass of rubbish at the shores. And as if to reward our 'international' effort, the sky turned a glorious spectrum of colours on our return journey across the waters to Singapore mainland (first photo above). It was then that - on the bumboat - I suddenly recalled your poem.
I remembered the simple words you use and the plain matter-of-fact way you say it. It was very clear in my mind. I actually felt sad reading it at first, I must confess. But sitting there in the bumboat and recalling your poem and admiring the beautiful sky... I felt my heart brimming over with hope... hope that we can turn things around. We CAN resolve the issue of waste and prevent and reduce pollution at all levels. Yes, we can! It only have to start with ourselves (the ME & I!) and also with people around us - at home, in school, our community, etc. That was exactly how I felt after cleaning up the beaches with my friends, and at the sametime, reminding ourselves not to create waste in the first place.
Thank you, Verasha, for your rich poetry. Your poem, 4 My Sky, is a timely reminder for all of us to act for the environment. Most of all, I want you to have hope - lots of it - just like my friends and I have. We all must have hope... for a better tomorrow! : )
Keep writing and keep smiling! There is hope!
Uncle Joe
BBC Audio & Video : to learn more about plastic and the harm it does to the environment and to animal life too.
[
Footnote: Special thanks to Robert Teo of the National Parks Board and volunteer Angie Ng for making our outing so memorable, and Peggy Khoo for galvanizing the enthusiastic response from her Intel team.]
[photo above: Tim Bailey planting a tree of hope for the environment.]
[photo above: a sea-change from corporate executives to rubbish collectors and caregivers of the environment!] 
[photo above: bagging a first prize for 'talking rubbish' - telling a most interesting tall tale about how an aircon panel ended up on ubin's shore!] 
I don't have a name for her yet. It could be a 'him' though. I may just have to wait a little bit longer to gain enough of her confidence before turning her over to ascertain the gender. Well, at least for now, I am pleased she know how to go to the toilet to poo-poo and pee-pee! : )